Wednesday, March 28, 2012

It’s frustrating being too old for summer camp, but too young to drive and have a real job. Gathering together with friends at the mall, every day, stops being fun after awhile. A summer with some structure and meaningful activity can be more satisfying.

You probably had a lemonade stand when you were old enough to differentiate a quarter from a dime. Maybe some neighbors paid you for lawn mowing. Possibly you did some babysitting and enjoyed being around little kids. There are some other ways that teens can earn money.

Think bigger. Think entrepreneur. If you live an area with young children and are a bit enterprising, you may be a natural for starting a summer camp for preschoolers and young elementary-age neighborhood children. Many mothers work or need some time away from their little ones to buy groceries, run errands, or have doctor or personal appointments. The opportunity for their tots to attend your camp will give parents a needed break.

Getting started involves a few simple decisions.

Being prepared before the summer begins will assure greater success at your enterprise. You’ll want to do some initial planning before you inform your let your community that their children have a new opportunity for summer fun. Consider the who, what, where, when, and why of starting a camp.

Who will attend your camp is an important first decision. What ages will you include? Most three year olds have been potty-trained for awhile, and can verbalize needs; many have attended preschool and interact well with peers. You probably don’t want to include children younger than that in your camp. Determine a maximum age, too.

Some children have special needs and possibly language or behavior issues because of disabilities such as Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or Autism. With some, the problems are obvious and may be more than you can handle. But many children with these issues do fine and will thrive in your summer program. Remember that disability is different from illness. Kids with colds or other health issues shouldn’t be allowed to attend. It’s simply unfair to the other children.

Additionally, you’ll want to get an initial idea of which neighborhood children might attend your program, with names, ages, and parent contact information; then parents decide on a daily basis if their children will be coming. They’ll appreciate your flexibility and your camp will gain an excellent reputation.

What to name your camp and how much to charge are a few logistical issues to be considered. Frankly, it’s okay not to have any name for your camp. Or, it might be fun to give your camp some clever name.

Having an assistant, such as a friend, cousin or sibling, will determine the maximum number of campers you can handle each day. It’ll also help calculate a reasonable price to charge. This can be tricky, so solicit the advice of some adults. How often will you get paid by parents? Will they pay in advance or at the end of each day? Since you probably know these families, it’s acceptable to accept checks as well as cash.

Deciding where to hold camp is essential. You can have camp at a nearby park. Or, if your backyard seems relatively distraction-free, that’s a good place, if the weather cooperates. Possibly your garage appears safe to host campers occasional rainy days. You’ll need to decide if you’ll walk around the neighborhood and pick- up campers, or if parents will deliver them to your location.

When camp is being held is a question that parents will ask. Two hours in the morning should accommodate the attention span of even the youngest campers. You’ll have to decide if you want to have camp two, three, or fine days a week. You also need to determine how many weeks to hold camp and which week to start.

Informing parents why you have camp is what marketing is all about. You can design a flyer for distributing to potential camper families that discusses logistics about time and place as well as activities. You may also want to create a website to describe camp.

Planning day- to- day matters is important.

How will you entertain a bunch of little kids for two hours for several days during the summer? Simple inexpensive activities such as singing and games, and arts and crafts, making masks from paper plates, for example, or puppets from paper bags, are fun. Affordable snacks can include crackers and juice served in small cups.

A perfect summer job for an enterprising preteen or teen, starting a summer camp has the potential to earn hundreds of dollars for the two or three years before you’re old enough for employment. Talk to your parents to get their support.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Why you probably won’t expire if you ingest expired food and medications

By Debra L. Karplus, MS

“The US generates more trash. 34 million tons of food waste each year. Food waste is more than 14% of the total municipal solid waste stream”, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (epa.gov). Many mainstream American families live by the adage if in doubt, throw it out. One might wonder exactly what food is going into those landfills.

Most people who stretch their dollars are absolutely disgusted with the idea of throwing out food; that attitude seems to be universal among frugal people. Before discarding food they ask themselves if it is a food that has a little more life left in it to serve one more time. They ponder whether “old” food has potential to be safely disguised in leftovers? They wonder if throw-away food could at least be transformed into garden compost.

Expiration dates on medications and packaged food are more about full potency than about safety.

In 1979, the federal government passed legislation that required expiration dates on specific products sold. These “sell by” dates were intended to provide retailers with guidelines for putting food and drugs on store shelves. The dates were not supposed to scare consumers out of using these items. Examine some of the packaged foods on your kitchen cupboard shelves or over-the-counter vitamins and nutritional supplements, and drugs in the bathroom medicine cabinet and you will notice these dates.

According to webMd.com, expressions such as “best if used by”, “use by” or “pack date” are more about the quality of the product and not really about their safety. “Expiration date” is the last day recommended to eat the product for optimal flavor or potency. Prescriptions medications require more attention to expiration dates, since potency is crucial to their safe and effective use. Call your pharmacist and ask about your specific “aged” prescription. These professionals are quite knowledgeable about the pharmaceuticals they sell and will give you information with honesty and integrity about the safety of their products.

Many food items may have more life left in them than you might imagine.

Canning and freezing are methods of storing preserving foods to increase theirs shelf life; though sometimes flavor is compromised. Canned food, such as peas and corn, will be safe to eat within five years; the exception on canned foods is acidic foods such as tomatoes and tomato products which are best eaten within eighteen months. The National Center for Home Food Preservation (nchfp.uga.edu) recommends that frozen foods can be safely stored in your home freezer at zero degrees for one to twelve months depending on the type of food; frozen meats have a short storage life, frozen fruits and vegetables can be stored for up to a year,

Fresh food stored in your refrigerator has a shorter shelf life than those canned or frozen. Eggs should be used within three to five weeks of their sell date; after that date, they lose potency. Dairy foods such as milk and yogurt are acceptable to use within a week of their sell date. Note that yogurt that contains fruit typically has a shorter shelf life. Fresh meats should be either cooked or frozen within a week for safety reasons.

Dollar stretching families often wonder if it is safe to eat foods with a little bit of mold on them such as moldy bread or cheese. Medical experts encourage consumers to beware. Ingesting moldy foods may exacerbate the mold allergies that affect a surprisingly large percentage of the population. Additionally, foods containing mold can put dangerous toxins in the body. Eating a slice of bread with mold on it to avoid discarding twenty cents worth of food and ending up in a hospital emergency ward is simply not a prudent choice. Be cautious!

You can develop a system for purchasing and storing your foods and medications for optimizing their flavor, potency and safety

Take your time when shopping and get into the habit of checking dates on over-the-counter medicines such as aspirin, and on food items such as yogurt. Items near the back of the grocery shelf are likely to be newer and thus have a longer shelf life. There’s absolutely no reason why you can’t purchase these newer goods. In your own kitchen, organize products so that you have the older ones within easy reach to use first. Finally, rely on your good sense of intuition; if it looks and smells okay and you are only concerned about the date, then it’s probably safe to eat. Bon appetite!